Our Chapter has been busy over the past five months with several fun events in north Texas. July saw us travel to the little country town of Anna for their annual Malt Shop show. A ‘50s theme with over 100 cars, despite the blistering heat being well over 100! In August, we did the Anna show one better by hosting our own ice cream “social” at our vice-president Glen Balko’s house. Nothing beats Glen’s home-made ice cream, except perhaps the great tour of his huge garage and car barn where he can store up to 11 cars total. We all enjoyed viewing Glen’s “year one” Pontiacs: his red ’62 GP with a 4 speed, and his white ’64 GTO hardtop with a 4-speed. Then his white ’63 Tempest convertible completes an impressive trifecta of Pontiac power! We will surely do this again in 2011.

Late September found LSC members Winston & Cindy McCollum, Ken Smith, and Kenneth Davis making the 100 mile journey to the historic Hillsboro square for the big Road America sponsored show. There were 270 cars centered around the downtown area next to a 1930s era Ford dealership that has been fully restored by Carol Estes. Ken Smith took best of show with his stunning black/red ’69 Judge. Winston & Cindy won a top 25 award with their flawless white/red ’79 TransAm. And Kenneth Davis drew much admiration for his beautiful, last year straight eight ’54 coral over white Star Chief. Plus his son brought a ’78 gold TransAm with Hurst T-tops to complete a great family display.

They all had to be very careful as rain threatened all day. Then out of the blue a 75 year old man got on his motor scooter, had a stuck throttle, and crashed into the back of a ’70 SS 396 Camaro. Both man and car were hurt, but we hope they have each healed by now!

October 30th was a big day for LSC as we held our first annual BOP/Cadillac show in Sunnyvale. We had 35 outstanding cars participate on a perfect Fall Saturday. Prestige awards were given to the most “interesting” cars as voted on by attendees. When was the last time you saw a ’57 Star Chief convertible in that desirable black/red combination, equipped with factory tri-power? Well, we had one at our show and it was a true crowd-pleaser. Check out the picture to refresh your sweet ’57 memories! We can’t wait till next Halloween when we will pull off an even bigger show for GM’s upscale brands.

November saw us brave the cold weather for the annual First Methodist Church show in Plano, hosted by our LSC secretaries Ross & Dorothy Clegg. A diverse group of cars were showcased, including new member Richard Bush’s bright red, unique ’64 GTO post coupe with black vinyl top, air conditioning, tri-power, and radio delete. We also laid plans to have our new club photo taken at Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas during April 2011 and put it on the home page of our re-styled web site, www.lonestarchapterpoci.org

Lastly, we appointed Winston McCollum as our club archivist to store the various reference documents that members have accumulated over the past 30 years. We all know that 2011 will be yet another exciting year of Pontiac fun for us, and everyone is really looking forward to caravanning to Bowling Green for a super POCI convention. And yes, we have a couple of very nice ‘61s in our chapter that will be honored to participate in the 50th Anniversary celebration. Hope to see you there for some enthusiastic Pontiac and Oakland fellowship. —-Tom Brackett

In early December I was contacted by Tim Dye. During that call Tim described his plans for a National Pontiac Historical Museum. If his name rings a bell it’s likely because he is very active in our sport frequently contributing to publications we read every month. One example is the article in the December issue of Smoke Signals which covers our 2010 Uprising Show, Tim wrote it. In additional to being an author Tim is a mega-collector of all things Pontiac. One thing led to another and soon we were invited to meet Tim and his wife Peggy at the site of their museum, learn about their plans and maybe even make a contribution or two. Plans are to open the museum in Pontiac, IL the summer of 2011.

On Monday, December 13, 2010 Bill Nawrot, Doug Rudisuhle, Ken Smith, Denny Vodvarka and Jim Stern made the approximately 80 mile drive to Pontiac, Illinois. We arrived in Pontiac interested, we left excited! Public announcements will begin to appear in mid-January. We are getting a jump on almost everyone.

We met Tim & Peggy at City Hall and participated in a meeting where Tim projected photographs of his collection on screen while describing the items being viewed. He also presented his thoughts about the museum layout and operation. Joining us the entire time was Mayor Robert Russell, Pontiac’s City Manager and others. We soon learned this is going to be wide ranging in scope and nothing short of spectacular! Did you know Pontiac sold a horse drawn wagon in the late 1800’s? Tim owns one. Imagine printed documentation which alone will require over 325 feet of shelf space! Pontiacs will of course be displayed but they will not be the major thrust, think banners, flyers, brochures, models, collectables of every kind and much, much more.

Here is what you need to do right now:Mark Saturday, July 23, 2011 on your calendar. We must prepare to FILL Pontiac Illinois with Pontiacs that day in celebration of the Museum’s Grand opening. Stay tuned as additional details are revealed. A video presentation by Tim Dye at our March or April meeting is being planned.

So glad to be a part of Tomahawk Chapter and POCI. Sending Holiday Greetings! We are looking forward to cruising in our “new” ‘51 Pontiac. Note, Freddie was on the cover of Smoke Signals when we was 5 years old (June 1992 issue).